The dreaded return of Odubel Herrera to the Phillies

The news broke in the late afternoon Apr. 26. The Philadelphia Phillies had promoted Odubel Herrera to the South Philly squad and put him into the lineup for their game against the Cardinals. In St. Louis. So, at the least, Joe Girardi’s struggling team wouldn’t have to immediately face boos from those of their home fans who disapprove of the return of Odubel.

It is unclear how many booing fans that would now be. The Phillies are wildly inconsistent offensively, and on the 26th, were hanging onto the second rung in the NL East only because all the other teams in the division are as flawed as they are.

The predictable return of Odubel Herrera has divided Philadelphia fans badly.

The story of Odubel Herrera in mid-career is fairly well-known now, but for those unfamiliar with it, here’s a short version: In May, 2019, in an argument with his girlfriend, he grabbed her around the neck hard enough to leave fingermarks. Thus, he was arrested and exiled from MLB for nearly two years. The exile details are unimportant now, in many ways, but charges were not pressed.

However, Herrera remains under contract with the Phillies, and can only be waived for a “baseball reason.” And that the Phillies have been unwilling to do, apparently out of an abundance of caution related to their unsettled center field situation.

The Phillies, in other words, are ignoring those in Philadelphia opposed to the outfielder’s return as an abuser, as well as those who feel Odubel Herrera is a declining and flaky player with poor focus. It’s a business decision based on the iffy play of all their alternative centerfielders.

The weather in St. Louis was expected to be partly cloudy and in the 70s for Herrera’s return.

As game time approached, the Phillies corner of the Twitterverse lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree, with commenters falling into three main groups – those appalled by Herrera wearing the team uniform, those who accused people holding that position of usurping the place of God to judge him, and those who wanted people to donate money to domestic violence groups.

A long-time friend falls into the first group; he tweeted something better left out of a family friendly article.

Once play started, however, Herrera seemed as absent, offensively, as most of the rest of the Phillies. He took a called third strike on the inner half of the plate in his first at bat, and in succeeding at bats flied out to right, and then left. In his last at bat he looked at a 74-mph hanging curve for a strike.

Adam Wainwright was throwing a complete-game six-hitter for the Cardinals, but he lost, 2-1, by giving up two homers to Rhys Hoskins.

And Herrera halted the last Cardinals ball put into play, ranging into left center for the catch that ended the game. This prompted Phillies announcer Tom McCarthy to invoke a game-ending catch the outfielder made years ago now to preserve a no-hitter.

So, the social media outrage subsided for the night, but Odubel Herrera should expect a less than entirely welcoming crowd when he returns to Citizens Bank Park on Apr. 30 to meet the Mets.